War is sometimes just, other times unjust. But war is NEVER trivial and ALWAYS hell, and writers have been writing about it since the dawn of humankind. This blog is devoted to stories, poems, essays, letters, journals, articles, and speeches about war, written by soldiers, dissidents, hawks, doves, famous and unknown people--whoever has an opinion about or experiences with war.

Friday, December 14, 2007

THE CIVIL WAR: Come Up From the Fields, Father (Walt Whitman)

Come up from the fields, father, here's a letter from our Pete,And come to the front door, mother, here's a letter from thy dear son.

.Cool and sweeten Ohio's villages with leaves fluttering in the moderate wind,Where apples ripe in the orchards hang and grapes on the trellis'd vines,(Smell you the smell of the grapes on the vines?Smell you the buckwheat where the bees were lately buzzing?)

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Above all, lo, the sky so calm, so transparent after the rain, and with wondrous clouds,Below too, all calm, all vital and beautiful, and the farm prospers well.

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Down in the fields all prospers well,But now from the fields come father, come at the daughter's call.And come to the entry mother, to the front door come right away.

.Fast as she can she hurries, something ominous, her steps trembling,She does not tarry to smooth her hair nor adjust her cap.

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Open the envelope quickly,O this is not our son's writing, yet his name is sign'd,O a strange hand writes for our dear son, O stricken mother's soul!All swims before her eyes, flashes with black, she catches the main words only,Sentences broken, gunshot wound in the breast, cavalry skirmish, taken to hospital,At present low, but will soon be better.

.Ah now the single figure to me,Amid all teeming and wealthy Ohio with all its cities and farms,Sickly white in the face and dull in the head, very faint,By the jamb of a door leans.

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Grieve not so, dear mother, (the just-grown daughter speaks through her sobs,The little sisters huddle around speechless and dismay'd,)See, dearest mother, the letter says Pete will soon be better.

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Alas poor boy, he will never be better, (nor may-be needs to be better, that brave and simple soul,)While they stand at home at the door he is dead already,The only son is dead.

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But the mother needs to be better,She with thin form presently drest in black,By day her meals untouch'd, then at night fitfully sleeping, often waking,In the midnight waking, weeping, longing with one deep longing,O that she might withdraw unnoticed, silent from life escape and withdraw,To follow, to seek, to be with her dear dead son.

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From Leaves of Grass

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Contributors

Criteria of Just War theory

Just War Theory has two sets of criteria. The first establishing jud as bellum, the right to go to war; the second establishing jus in bello, right conduct within war. [1]

Jus ad bellum (The Right to Go to War)

Just cause

The reason for going to war needs to be just and can therefore be recapturing things taken or punishing people who have done wrong. A contemporary view of just cause was expressed in 1993 when the US Catholic Conference said: "Force may be used only to correct a grave, public evil, i.e., aggression or massive violation of the basic human rights of whole populations."

Comparative justice

While there may be rights and wrongs on all sides of a conflict, to override the presumption against the use of force, the injustice suffered by one party must significantly outweigh that suffered by the other. Theorists such as Brian Orend omit this term, seeing it as fertile ground for exploitation by bellicose regimes.

Legitimate authority

Only duly constituted public authorities may use deadly force or wage war.

Right intention

Force may be used only in a truly just cause and solely for that purpose—correcting a suffered wrong is considered a right intention, while material gain or maintaining economies is not.

Probability of success

Arms may not be used in a futile cause or in a case where disproportionate measures are required to achieve success.

Last resort

Force may be used only after all peaceful and viable alternatives have been seriously tried and exhausted.

Jus in bello (Right Conduct Within War)

Once war has begun, just war theory also directs how combatants are to act:

Discrimination

Just war conduct should be governed by the principle of discrimination. The acts of war should be directed towards the inflictors of the wrong, and not towards civilians caught in circumstances they did not create. The prohibited acts include bombing civilian residential areas that include no military target and committing acts of terrorism or reprisal against ordinary civilians. Some believe that this rule forbids weapons of mass destruction of any kind, for any reason (such as the use of an atomic bomb).

Proportionality

Just war conduct should be governed by the principle of proportionality. The force used must be proportional to the wrong endured, and to the possible good that may come. The more disproportional the number of collateral civilian deaths, the more suspect will be the sincerity of a belligerent nation's claim to justness of a war it initiated. [2]

Minimum Force

Just war conduct should be governed by the principle of minimum force. This principle is meant to limit excessive and unnecessary death and destruction. It is different from proportionality because the amount of force proportionate to the goal of the mission might exceed the amount of force necessary to accomplish that mission. But if the mission requires much force then it is proportional to the end result.